1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a process for producing microorganisms from ethylene. The microorganism, which can be a yeast or bacterium, may be used, for example, as a food or food supplement.
2. Prior Art and Related Disclosures
It is well known in the art that ethanol can be produced by the hydration of ethylene over a phosphoric acidcontaining catalyst. It is also known that in the hydration of ethylene substantial impurities are also produced, for example diethyl ether and acetaldehyde, and that substantial and costly purification steps are necessary to remove these impurities to produce a concentrated ethanol solution. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,486,980.
The prior art as exemplified, for example, by the article "Energy Supply and Cell Yield in Aerobically Grown Microorganisms" by E. Hernandes and M. J. Johnson, Journal of Bacteriology, October 1967, Vol. 94, No. 4, pp. 996-1001, discloses growing yeasts, and in particular Candida utilis, with ethanol used as the carbon source of the microorganisms.
The prior art further shows in U.S. Pat. No. 3,546,071 oxygenating a petroleum fraction to form oxygenated hydrocarbons, preferably ethanol, and then feeding the oxygenated hydrocarbons to a microorganism, Micrococcus cerificans, in the presence of cellulose.
The prior art further discloses in U.S. Pat. No. 3,642,578 that aldehydes are biocidal to microorganisms in the fermentation of methanol and the like.
The prior art also shows in German Patent No. 2,154,091 that an aqueous ethanol solution may be used as a feed for a fermentation zone and that unreacted ethanol may be separated from the effluent and after a suitable sterilization may be recycled to the fermentation zone. Recycle of unreacted substrates is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,084,106.